Copper Skin like Iron

Black Stone County lay shrouded in a damp, chilly white fog that morning, the air thick with the sour smell of wet coal ash.

Ji Ye changed into an inconspicuous gray cloth outfit, tucked twenty taels of silver into his robes, and entered Hui Chun Tang in the west of the city. It was the largest apothecary in the county, and the only place that could assemble all the ingredients for Body Tempering Soup.

The old shopkeeper behind the counter was weighing herbs with a small scale without even looking up. "Medicine or consultation?"

"Medicine." Ji Ye slapped a prescription covered in herb names onto the counter and casually placed a five-tael silver ingot on top.

The old shopkeeper gave the prescription an absent-minded glance, and his clouded eyes instantly sharpened. He looked Ji Ye up and down, lowering his voice. "Bone-Penetrating Grass, tiger bone powder, safflower oil... Young man, are you training external hard techniques? This is potent medicine for the Skin Tempering Realm. If an ordinary person with a weak body soaked in it, he'd be afraid of losing a layer of skin."

"Losing a layer of skin is still better than losing my life." Ji Ye's tone was calm.

The old shopkeeper shook his head and pushed the silver back. "We have everything else on this prescription, but the Bone-Penetrating Grass is out of stock."

"Out of stock?" Ji Ye frowned slightly. Bone-Penetrating Grass was the primary ingredient of Body Tempering Soup. Without it, the medicinal power could not seep into the tendons and fascia, remaining only on the surface of the skin, and its effects would be greatly reduced.

"The Black Tiger Gang from the south of the city bought it all." The old shopkeeper sighed and pointed outside. "They came yesterday afternoon, saying their gang leader was about to break through to the Bone Forging Realm, so they collected every stalk of Bone-Penetrating Grass in the county. If you need it urgently, you can try your luck elsewhere, but in Black Stone County? Difficult."

Ji Ye's fingers lightly tapped the counter.

Bone Forging Realm.

This was the second threshold of martial arts in Great Liang. If the first realm, Skin Tempering Realm, was about training one's skin until it became as tough as old cowhide, capable of resisting cuts from sharp weapons, then Bone Tempering meant refining one's bones until they were as dense as pig iron, able to withstand heavy blunt strikes without shattering.

If the Black Tiger Gang's leader truly became a Bone Forging Realm expert, Ji Ye's Wild Goose Feather Saber probably would not even wedge into the gaps between his bones.

"Then give me ten portions of the other herbs." Ji Ye did not dwell on it and decisively took back part of his silver. "Also, bring me a jar of the finest iron sand, along with three jin of coarse salt."

The old shopkeeper's eyelids twitched. "Young man, are you planning to force your training with the Arid Zen Method? It works quickly, but that suffering... isn't something a human can endure."

"Get the medicine."

Ji Ye did not want to waste words. In this man-eating world, pain was the cheapest cost.

A quarter of an hour later, Ji Ye left Hui Chun Tang carrying a large bundle of medicinal herbs.

The moment he turned into a secluded alley, Ji Ye stopped.

Three shadowy figures stood amid the fog ahead.

The man in front was a lean fellow wearing the black robes of the Black Tiger Gang. With both hands tucked into his sleeves, he tilted his head at Ji Ye, a mocking smile on his face.

"Master Ding Qi, buying medicine?"

The lean man was called Bone-Scraping Marquis, an expert of the Black Tiger Gang's Punishment Hall. It was said that he practiced finger techniques akin to the Eagle Claw Technique and excelled at tearing tendons and dislocating bones.

Ji Ye gently set the bundle of herbs on a dry stone step beside his feet, his right hand slowly settling onto the hilt at his waist.

"The Black Tiger Gang's information network is certainly efficient."

"Of course. You crippled Iron Pagoda, and the gang leader is very angry." Bone-Scraping Marquis slowly withdrew his hands from his sleeves. They were an eerie bluish-black, with thick knuckles, closely trimmed nails, and fingertips covered in heavy calluses. "The gang leader said that if he takes both your wrist tendons, this matter will be settled."

Before his words had even faded, Bone-Scraping Marquis moved.

Without another word, he stomped down hard and shot forward close to the ground like a hunting civet cat.

So fast!

Ji Ye's pupils constricted. This speed was more than twice that of Iron Pagoda, who only knew how to rely on brute force.

Clang!

The Wild Goose Feather Saber left its sheath in a flash of cold light. Borrowing the momentum of Triple Brute Force, Ji Ye swept horizontally at his opponent's waist and abdomen.

The saber strike was mighty and heavy, ripping apart the air with a shrill howl.

Yet Bone-Scraping Marquis did not meet it head-on at all. At the instant the blade reached him, his waist bent backward at an unimaginable angle, and he nearly slid flat against the ground, barely evading the edge.

That was the gap in technique.

As he evaded the blade, Bone-Scraping Marquis formed his right hand into a claw and shot it out like an iron hook, aiming directly for the Neiguan acupoint on Ji Ye's saber-wielding wrist.

If that claw landed, the ligaments in Ji Ye's wrist would be torn apart in an instant.

Ji Ye could not react in time. He could only instinctively press his wrist down, attempting to ram the saber hilt into his opponent.

Riiip—!

Bone-Scraping Marquis changed moves with astonishing speed. His five fingers slipped past the hilt and slashed across Ji Ye's forearm.

His sleeve tore apart, and blood sprayed.

Five deep, bone-revealing furrows appeared on Ji Ye's forearm. Flesh curled outward, exposing even the pale tendons beneath.

The piercing pain stimulated Ji Ye's nerves, yet he did not so much as furrow his brows.

"So this is the Skin Grinding Realm?"

Ji Ye retreated half a step and glanced at his wound. His opponent's fingers were as hard as iron and stone. That was the power of completing Skin Tempering Realm cultivation—fingers like blades, skin like armor.

"Not a bad reaction. Pity you're just a brute." Bone-Scraping Marquis licked the blood from his fingertips, his gaze cold and sinister. "My next move will ruin your eyes."

He pounced again, his twin claws whipping through the air as they targeted Ji Ye's eyes, throat, groin, and other vulnerable points.

Ji Ye was forced onto the defensive.

His strength completely surpassed his opponent's, but it was useless if he could not hit him. The Wild Goose Feather Saber could not be properly wielded in the narrow alley and had instead become a burden.

Clang!

They exchanged again. Bone-Scraping Marquis hooked a claw onto the spine of the saber, used the force to leap into the air, and scissored his legs toward Ji Ye's neck.

This was the killing move, Life-Taking Scissors. Once it caught the cervical spine, a twist aided by the force of the fall would leave even immortals unable to save him.

Life and death hung on a single instant.

A fierce glint flashed through Ji Ye's eyes.

He did not dodge. Instead, he released his saber with his right hand.

He abandoned his weapon!

At the instant Bone-Scraping Marquis's legs scissored around his neck, Ji Ye suddenly raised both hands. Rather than trying to free his neck, he clamped down on Bone-Scraping Marquis's upper thighs like a pair of iron pincers—the quadriceps, where the muscles were thickest, but where it was also hardest to exert force.

"Got you."

A savage smile curled across Ji Ye's lips.

Bone-Scraping Marquis's face changed drastically. His legs felt as if they had been caught in a hydraulic clamp. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not snap Ji Ye's neck. Instead, his own thigh bones began to groan beneath the enormous grip.

"Get... down here!"

Ji Ye roared as Triple Brute Force erupted in full.

This was not merely a contest of strength. It was violent destruction of anatomical structure.

He violently tore his hands apart.

Crack—!!!

A bone-chilling sound of breaking bones exploded through the alley.

It was the sound of femoral heads being forcibly torn from their hip sockets, accompanied by the crisp tearing of ligaments.

"Aaaahhh—!!!"

Bone-Scraping Marquis let out an inhuman scream and instantly went limp. His legs lost all support and hung from Ji Ye's body like noodles.

Ji Ye did not stop.

Taking advantage of his opponent's loss of balance, he seized Bone-Scraping Marquis by the collar with his left hand and viciously smashed him into the ground.

Bang!

The bluestone paving cracked apart.

Bone-Scraping Marquis spat out a mouthful of blood. His chest had caved in, and it was clear that many of his ribs had broken.

"Your skin is hard?"

Ji Ye straddled him, clenched his right hand into a fist, and raised it high.

Veins bulged across his knuckles as strength accumulated to its limit.

"Then I'll smash your bones!"

Boom!

His fist crashed down.

It struck Bone-Scraping Marquis square in the face.

There was no fancy technique, only the pure release of kinetic force.

Bone-Scraping Marquis's nose bridge shattered instantly. Under the shock of pressure within his skull, his eyeballs burst, and his entire face collapsed into a bloody crater of mangled flesh.

His body convulsed violently once, then went completely still.

The other two Black Tiger Gang members, who had been preparing to move in for the kill, now stood frozen as if struck by a paralysis spell, damp stains spreading across their crotches.

What had they just seen?

A constable who only knew brute force had actually torn apart the joints of a Skin Grinding Realm expert, then blown apart his head with a single punch?

That primitive, savage, utterly graceless method of killing was more shocking than any exquisite martial art.

Ji Ye slowly rose to his feet.

A purple-blue ring of bruising circled his neck, while the wound on his forearm was still dripping blood, staining half his body red.

He picked up the Wild Goose Feather Saber from the ground, wiped the blood from it on Bone-Scraping Marquis's corpse, then turned toward the two lackeys.

"Go back and tell your gang leader."

Ji Ye's voice was hoarse, carrying a texture like metal scraping against metal.

"His bones had better be harder than these."

Half an hour later.

Ji Ye returned to his residence.

He shut the door and stripped off his blood-soaked clothes, revealing a lean, powerful body covered in wounds.

The claw marks on his forearm were deep enough to reveal bone. The slightest exertion would make them split open again.

"High offense, low defense. That's my current weakness."

Ji Ye gritted his teeth, took out the jar of coarse salt and iron sand, poured them into a wooden basin, then dumped all the herbs he had bought into scalding hot water.

Although there was no Bone-Penetrating Grass, and the medicinal effects would be far weaker, he could not afford to wait.

The Black Tiger Gang's retaliation would only become fiercer. The next person to come might be their gang leader, who was currently attempting to break through to the Bone Forging Realm.

Ji Ye grabbed a handful of iron sand mixed with coarse salt, pressed it fiercely around the wounds on his forearm, and began rubbing.

"Hiss—"

A tidal wave of pain washed over him. It was the physical agony of salt grains rubbing into open wounds, combined with the stabbing pain of iron sand grinding through his skin.

But he did not stop.

His eyes widened as he watched his skin turn crimson under the brutal friction, become congested with blood, and finally seep fine beads of blood.

This was the principle of Skin Tempering Realm—through constant tiny injuries and healing, the skin developed a callused keratin layer until it ultimately became as tough as leather.

"As long as I don't die..."

Ji Ye panted heavily as he mechanically repeated the rubbing motion, sweat and blood dripping into the basin.

"I can win."

At that moment, he was no longer an office drone who bowed for five pecks of rice, but a lone wolf in the darkness, licking his wounds in solitude.

Outside the window, rain began to fall.

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